


Build me up, Buttercup (Don't break my heart)

by Pollarize



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: AI, Artificial Intelligence, M/M, but i probably wont, crazy!brendon, genius!josh, id say ill add more later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-08-10 05:30:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7832221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pollarize/pseuds/Pollarize
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh had just graduated top of his class, a job offer already waiting. It was a project to create an animatronic robot, something that triggered a spark of excitement in his chest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> "name it 'sorry i made you wait sandra'" bitch who do you think i am
> 
> sorry it all seems so bland, i dont want to give too much away

Josh had spent years and years, studying in school to get a good engineering degree. He ended up double majoring in engineering as well as robotics engineering. His friends called him a nerd, others called him crazy. He just called himself passionate.

 

He was fascinated in the way robots were used and created. It was never in the way that people assumed them to be. They weren’t animatronic metal creatures that had lasers for eyes. They were simple, a large base that had electronics and chips, a mechanic arm that could move pieces from place to place. He remembered that his dad, before retiring, worked with robots in his job. It had fueled Josh’s desire and now he was graduating top of his class with a job offer already waiting for him. He had been shocked that he had gotten it in the first place.

 

Sure, he was smart, that much was obvious when he finished on top of everyone else. He knew he could get a job at practically any place he wanted but to have someone approach him, it baffled him.

 

The man who had approached him was known for his work in programming. He had worked for company after company to get his name out there before he started his own. It took off for a little while but quickly died when he didn’t come out with any new and exciting project and people soon forgot about the world's greatest programmer (or at least the greatest programmer that  _ wasn’t  _ on the darknet). It was now a no name company that could only pay Josh about one percent of what his degree was really worth but the man had an idea and Josh loved ideas.

 

He wanted to create exactly the robot people thought of and feared. It excited Josh to the point where he was stepping out of a car in front of a house that he assumed to either be company property or the man’s own home. He was nervous and had worn his best slacks, even gone as far to gel his hair back. Josh knew he didn’t need to impress this man, he obviously wanted Josh on his team. He pushed his worries back and walked up to the door, knocking on it. He had a binder in hand that had a few papers that he deemed important enough to bring. Certifications and achievements Josh thought that might be worthy of noting. The door opened to a man in his boxers, staring at Josh with a spoon hanging out of his mouth.

 

“What are you doing? Nobody comes to my home out in the woods, it’s secluded for a reason, kid,” the man said, obviously not expecting Josh. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it, checking his calendar. His hands were shaking as he looked back up at the man in front of him.

 

“Mr. Urie, you contacted me about a job offer. You, uh, you gave me the address and told me to be here at this time,” he said quietly, his heart feeling like it might give up with the way Josh started to panic. He looked down at his phone again and realized it was exactly noon and he was a little too punctual for his own good. He slipped his phone back into his pocket and looked at the man, shifting anxiously from foot to foot.

 

“Oh, fuck, you’re that genius kid or something?” He asked, opening the door wider for Josh. He looked between the room and the man, frowning for a second before he stepped inside, being careful to keep to himself.

 

“I wouldn’t call myself a gen-”

 

“Forgot you were gonna be here today. How ‘bout I got put some clothes on and then we can get started?” He questioned, looking at the nervous stature of Josh. He gave a snort and walked down the hall, returning a minute later with a robe wrapped around him. Josh was a little shocked. He’d been assuming that it would be slightly more professional than this.

 

“Call me Brendon. Mr. Urie sounds like I’m old, I’m really not,” he said, sitting down on a couch and gesturing to the one across from him for Josh. 

 

Josh cleared his throat as he walked over and sat down, laying his binder down on the coffee table between them. He’d rehearsed what to say over and over and was ready to start, or at least get things over with so he could leave to the comforts of his own home.

 

“I have a few certifications here if you’d like as well as a couple of papers showing where I’ve been recognized for my work,” he started, opening the binder and pulling a few things out and handing them over to Brendon. He took them but hardly looked over them before he set them on the couch beside him. Josh was a little offended, maybe even a tad hurt, (maybe on the brink of crying).

 

“Don’t you want to look through-”

 

“No, Josh-”

 

“Joshua-”

 

“Look, kid, I asked you to be here for a reason,” Brendon said, exasperated already. Josh fought the urge to run his hand through his hair only for the fact that he didn’t want it to get messed up. He could tell things weren’t going well.

 

“I know you asked me to be here but you won’t listen to me or even look at the things I brought,” Josh said and he felt a little like he was pouting and whining but he thought that, given the circumstance, it was fair.

 

“It’s not a job interview,” Brendon said easily, eyes on Josh. He felt himself deflate a little at that, his heart sinking to his chest.

 

“I- what?” He asked, shifting his eyes away from Brendon to stare at a window that had a lovely view of the forest. Brendon got up and shrugged, returning with a bowl of cereal and his spoon.

 

“I’ve done my research,  _ Joshua _ , and you are more than qualified to be working with me on my project. I saw what your principal said about you seventh grade science fair project, nice job by the way,” Brendon said and Josh was taken aback, a little startled that Brendon had found that. It wasn’t something he boasted about, he had been so young, it was so long ago.

 

“I asked you to be here because I want to know about you, not your school, not all these silly things that they put into your degree. I want to be working with somebody that I can get along with, I want a friend. I hate working with someone that I hate, don’t you?” Josh wasn’t going to admit that Brendon was right. He looked down at his lap and thought for a minute about what he was even supposed to say.

 

“When I was in high school I played baseball. I went through my rebellious phase where I dyed my hair crazy colors and pierced my lip and gauged my ears. Uh, that last one ended up not going away, obviously, so I kept them. The rest is gone, obviously,” he said, wincing to himself. He looked up and saw that Brendon was smiling but it didn’t seem judgemental. It was friendly and warm, happy.

 

“C’mon, relax,” he said softly and Josh wished it was that easy but he let go as much as he could. He slouched a little in his seat, giving up on perfect posture. He quit trying to force his knees to touch and let his legs fall open until he was comfortable and he rolled his shoulders, letting the tension fall away before he spoke again.

 

“Rebellious teen years, uh, I tried to teach myself drums but I have no sense of rhythm and gave up on that. Even through all that, I still did good in school, that was the one thing I didn’t rebel on. I’ve got two sisters who are my everything, a brother, too. One time I smoked pot at a party and cried because I felt so guilty for doing it,” he looked up to see Brendon laughing and he figured that if this was what was expected of him then working wouldn’t be a problem.

 

“One time? God, I forgot how much engineering students can be so uptight,” Brendon chuckled but nodded.

 

“I guess I was the opposite,” Brendon supplied, “I didn’t care much about anything and just went out to have fun with shit. People kept saying I wouldn’t amount to anything so I got a couple loans and put myself through college and look at me now,” he said, gesturing around at what Josh assumed was his home. 

 

“Still, you made something of yourself,” Josh said quietly, looking around the room. Brendon shrugged modestly.

 

“Hardly. I fell off the grid, became some crazy reclusive scientist or whatever they’re saying now. This is all where you come in,” he said, clapping his hands together and looking at Josh. 

 

“I need someone just as smart as me, possibly even smarter, to help get this project off the ground. I’ve got one other person already on board and all I need is your approval and we can start. Josh, I know I don’t have the money yet but I’m working on it. You have an amazing head and I want to use it,” he said, his smile falling away and a tone of seriousness falling over them. Josh had no intention of turning the offer down. He had been excited about it since the moment he heard it but it seemed Brendon didn’t know that.

 

“Once we get a basic prototype finished I was going to take it to the public and demonstrate it. People will throw money at us and we’ll be doing fine,” he said. Josh noted how small he looked. He opened his mouth to agree before he was cut off again.

 

“I’m not picky either. If you want to cover yourself in tattoos and piercings and hair dye, that’s fine. I don’t mind at all. I don’t have a dress code or anything, wear what you want. We’re gonna be sitting at a computer and messing around, I don’t expect this to be so uptight and professional. The only way things get done is if you enjoy what you’re doing and I don’t enjoy strict rules,” he said, obviously nervous that he wouldn’t get Josh’s approval. The lack of high standards actually eased Josh.

 

He answered Brendon’s offer by rolling his sleeves up, revealing his tattoo that was already there. Brendon’s eyes lit up at him relaxing a little more.

 

“I’d love to, Brendon. You’ve got such an interesting idea and I would be honored to take part in this.”

 

Brendon smiled and stood up, his untied robe falling open and he was standing in just his boxers again. He held his hand out and Josh took it easily, returning the smile. 

 

“We’ll get started a week from Monday. I gotta clean up my little studio and make sure everything is up to date for my equipment. I’ll give you a call and let you know what time to show up,” Brendon said, his smile growing again. 

  
Josh left the house the opposite of how he entered. The nervousness washed away and he was left with excitement. He wanted to get started right then and there, he wanted to see what type of robot they could create. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry about this chapter like its awful and i should have edited but things happened and i here we are

Josh had opted for something a little more comfortable this time. He was going to try and keep himself somewhat decent looking but he soon realized he never did laundry and all of his jeans that weren’t half destroyed had already been worn. He sighed as he pulled out some ripped jeans and threw them on. Brendon had said casual, right?

 

It was at that point that Josh gave up. He figured that if Brendon didn’t like him that much then there were other companies Josh could work for that would pay him a ton more. 

 

Josh was standing in front of the door again, stalling himself on knocking. He was nervous again but he also was still really excited about the project and what could be to come so he forced himself to knock. The door opened to reveal Brendon actually dressed this time and a smile on his face. He didn’t seem to care about Josh’s messed up jeans or the fact that he hadn’t even done anything with his hair since waking up.

 

“Josh, it’s good to see you. I’ve been thinking a lot about this project and I’m glad you decided to work with me on it,” he said and it seemed almost too formal for what Josh was expecting of Brendon. He shrugged and nodded.

 

“It was no problem. You’re doing something that nobody else has really done,” Josh explained, following Brendon through the house. He came into a room that had a computer set up. The room looked half demolished and obviously under construction. Josh figured he would ask about it later.

 

“Josh, this is Ashley. She’s our other tech on this project. I enlisted her help to create the physical form She worked as an electrician and something else I think,” Brendon stopped when the girl turned to glare at him. She stood up and walked over to Josh, a sweet smile on her face. She held her hand out for Josh to shake.

 

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said before returning back to her seat. He noticed she wasn’t actually doing anything besides sitting around and trying to ignore the two.

 

“We’re waiting for funding before she could really begin her part. Which is why we need you. You created some amazing systems and I want you to design the personality and get this thing functioning. I could do it myself but there’s a couple of reasons. One, I don’t wanna, and two, I’ve forgotten a lot.” Josh looked between the computers and Brendon and he could tell he was being used to an extent but he grinned and walked over, sitting down and running his hands over the keyboard. 

 

“Is there anything specific?” Josh asked vaguely, not turning around. He was already firing up the computer, the excitement bubbling up until it felt like he might throw up. Brendon snorted behind him.

 

“Maybe program something so it can jack me off when I get lonely,” Brendon replied and Josh’s cheeks went red. Josh briefly wondered if he could actually program a robot to give sexual favors. He figured it was possible but didn’t know that he would go as far as to trust a robot with a hand on his dick. He flinched at the mere thought of tragic outcomes that could happen.

 

The program was similar to the one he’d used in college and it didn’t take long for him to write something basic. 

 

He didn’t realized he’d spent all day hunched over a computer with very little progress. Brendon came over and touched his shoulder.

 

“Dude, go home. This isn’t going to happen in one day,” he said calmly and Josh let out a sigh as he stood up and nodded. 

 

It wasn’t even finished a month later but there was some semblance of progress by that point. He had the computer able to perform under certain commands which was a step in the right direction. It would take him a lot longer to have it thinking on it’s own but Josh was smart, he could do it.

 

Brendon was sitting next to him one night, coffee in hand. 

 

“Is it gonna be able to talk?” He asked and Josh’s hands stopped typing, his face falling flat.

 

“I can’t believe I forgot about that,” he whispered, realizing he had another extremely large chunk of text ahead of him. He groaned but didn’t say anything. 

 

~~~

 

He stopped shaving, for the most part even stopped eating. He rarely went home. Josh was hunched over his computer, typing furiously and anytime he stood up he got so dizzy he had to sit back down. Brendon and Ashley were worried about him. 

 

“Josh, man, you gotta eat,” Brendon said, laying a sandwich on the table next to Josh. He barely even looked at it.

 

“I’m so close, I can’t stop. It should only take me a couple days,” he whispered, not even glancing over to Brendon as he stood up and walked out of the room. He ended up back in the kitchen where Ashley was making sandwiches for the two of them.

 

“Did he take it?” She asked, not even turning around. From the way her shoulders looked slightly slumped, it seemed she knew the answer. Brendon shook his head, running his hand through his hair.

 

“Of course not, that would be too easy, wouldn’t it?” He said sarcastically, feeling frustrated at the fact that Josh was hurting himself over Brendon’s project.

 

“Go take over for a little, ask him to shower and sleep while you work on it,” she said softly, turning around and handing Brendon his food. He took it gratefully and shrugged his shoulders.

  
“Can’t, I forgot literally everything. I asked him to come help because he’s the best that I’ve seen and I knew he could do it. I wanted to pump him up about it but I didn’t expect him to kill himself over it,” Brendon said with a sigh, looking in the direction of where he knew Josh was.

 

They ate silently, neither one of them feeling well enough to keep up a casual conversation. 

 

There was a heavy crash in the other room and Brendon was a string of curses as he ran to find Josh face first on the floor, the sandwich still untouched. He could already hear Ashley on the phone, walking into the room slowly. She was explaining their situation and gave the address of Brendon’s home. She watched as Brendon pulled Josh into his lap carefully, trying to wake Josh up but he wasn’t getting anywhere. He’d hit his nose when he fell and there was more blood than Brendon wanted to deal with.

 

The paramedics came and took Josh away, telling Brendon he could visit later.

 

~~~

 

Josh woke up feeling a little like his body was rotting from the inside out.

 

He had needles under his skin and sounds of beeping in his ear that was bound to drive him crazy. He looked around the room and realized it smelled too clean, that he was in the hospital. He tried to remember what had happened, if he’d done something or had something done to him but he couldn’t remember anything besides his computer and then black.

 

A nurse came in and smiled politely at him.

 

“It’s good to see you awake, Mr. Dun,” she said as she came over to look at the bags and tubes that were connected to Josh and various machines. He frowned and asked the obvious.

 

“What happened?” 

 

“Your friend said that you’d been neglecting to eat. He said you got hyper focused on your work and wouldn’t slow down,” she said, shrugging as she left the room. Josh groaned but couldn’t help but think he’d brought it on himself. Brendon came in a few minutes later and took a seat in the chair next to his bed.

 

“Doctor said you’ll be able to leave soon, just gotta make sure you’ve had enough artificial nutrition and then you can go home,” he explained and Josh smiled, relieved that he was going to be able to leave.

 

“Good, I’m almost done with the coding we can-”

 

“No, Josh,” Brendon said firmly, the usual easy going smile was gone. Josh frowned and folded his arms over his chest, trying to ignore the discomfort of the IV.

 

“Why not?” He asked, knowing he was being a little ridiculous for arguing. 

 

“Because, Josh. You need to go home, to your home. Go get a decent nights sleep and a shower and fucking eat, you can come back in next week,” Brendon said, patting Josh’s leg as he left the room.

 

Josh let out a sigh and waited patiently. They brought his clothes from earlier in and let him change. He signed a few things before they let him leave and he stood outside the hospital, a little pissed off because Brendon left and his car wasn’t there. He reached into his pocket to pull his phone out but pulled his car keys out instead. There was a note taped to them.

 

_ ‘Ashley drove your car over. Figured you would need it’ _

 

He sighed. 

 

Josh needed a reason to yell at something and let his frustrations out. He had been so close to finishing everything. He’d made a lot of progress lately and wanted to see his work finished, he wanted to see it through. The steady upward progress he had going would be stunted. He was being forced to take a four day break, being forced to rest and sit on his ass. 

 

When Josh got home he realized how exhausted he really was. He was going to blame it on the pain medication he had been given for his head. He didn’t want to actually admit that maybe Brendon and Ashley were right about taking it easy. He didn’t want to have to tell them that he was being irresponsible and needed to slow down.

 

In the end it didn’t matter what he forced himself into thinking. He fell into bed and it took minutes before he was passed out for the rest of the night and most of the next day.

 

~~~

 

He showed up on Monday at eight in the morning, smiling wide as Brendon opened the door.

 

“God, you’re fucking insane,” he said as he walked with Josh into the computer room. Josh took his seat and powered the computer back on, feeling relieved now that he was able to get work done. He hated the freedom of being able to do whatever he wanted, except for the one thing he actually wanted.

 

“We’ve set down some rules for you,” Brendon said like it was a conversation starter. Josh frowned and turned around in his chair, raising his eyebrows.

 

“Brendon, I’m not a child, I can handle myself.”

 

“No, you can’t, Josh. You ended up in the hospital because you worked yourself into exhaustion. You obviously don’t have the self control to stop and take a break to even eat so I’m doing it for you. You’re only allowed to work for four hours and then you have to take an hour long break and eat, drink water, and relax, got it?” Brendon asked, his tone completely serious. Josh knew he wouldn’t get around this.

 

“Fine, fine,” he said, rolling his eyes as he turned back around.

 

“Look, dude, I don’t mind if you want to crash here because I get being too lazy to drive home, you just can’t do that to yourself again, alright?” Brendon said, his tone softer now. Josh leaned forward and rested his forehead against the monitor, closing his eyes. He let out a sigh before he sat up and nodded.

 

“Okay, I’ll be good, promise,” he said, looking back at Brendon who was smiling. 

 

“Thanks, it’s for your own good, ya know?”

 

~~~

 

Brendon and Ashley were starting to get worried again about Josh’s habits. He was a little too obsessive for his own good and while they both admired the drive, they didn’t like that he neglected his own health for it. Brendon was about to step in again and limit his computer time when Josh practically came crawling to him. He looked like he was dying.

 

Josh had bags under his eyes that looked more like a black eye. His hair was greasy and he needed a shower. He looked thinner than he used to be but he was smiling. Brendon hadn’t seen a smile that big on Josh’s face before. 

  
“I finished it,” he said, leaning against the counter. Ashley hurried over and got him a glass of water. He took it gladly, gulping it down quickly. They both stared at him, confusion on their faces.

 

“Finished?” Brendon asked. He was skeptical but there was a note of excitement in his tone. Josh nodded enthusiastically, his grin growing wider.

 

“Yeah, finished that monster a little bit ago, it should be good to go,” he said. They all shared a look and Brendon grinned.

  
“I’ll take it to the public and get us some money. I’ll pay both of you for your help and patience and we’ll get Ashley supplies to build a body for our robot. I’ll finish up the room I’ve been building and God, we’re close.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love tears

Getting the money for building was easy. Brendon may be a little useless with coding anymore but he definitely had a way with words, that was his talent. 

 

Ashley was just as good at building as Josh was at coding. She worked hard, doing the opposite of Josh, really. She kept healthy, took breaks, made the same amount of progress. He was annoyed watching her work but didn’t voice anything. 

 

He found it odd, how she could take some incredibly tiny piece of metal and add it into something else and have it build up into a leg. He watched each piece be made, sipping on a juicebox that he’d begged Brendon to buy. The room she had holed herself up in was a mess of wires and parts that made no sense but she seemed to see a finished project as she worked.    
  


Josh busied himself with messing with his coding. He added a few useless things that seemed somewhat important. He wanted the robot to be able to think to a certain extent, to be able to live on its own while they were away. He wanted to walk into the room and have the robot know who he was. So he made it all happen. It turned out to be more of busy work than anything. 

 

But then the body was done and the pressure was back on Josh. They stared at him expectantly as he looked at the faceless body that would come to life. 

 

“Don’t you think it needs like, I don’t know, a face?” He asked dumbly, reaching out to touch the material that encased all of the parts. Ashley had told him what it was once, some sort of plastic that was strong enough to withstand at least one bullet, possibly more. Josh hadn’t exactly paid much attention.

 

“A face?” She asked, looking like she was almost offended. Josh shrugged.

 

“Well, yeah, if we’re gonna take this thing to the public then it’ll need a face. They’ll be scared of a body that is literally just metallic parts. If it had a face then it seems more human-like, right?” He argued and it seemed that he was right. She deflated a little and frowned, folding her arms over her chest.

 

“Yeah, yeah, just give me some time. The funds for building are getting a little dry and I’ll need to find something perfect. If I’m gonna give this thing a face, I want it to look and feel as real as possible,” she said and he felt guilty for a moment at how exhausted she looked. He walked towards the small desk that had been kept in the room and pulled a pad of sticky notes out. He drew a smiley face on it and stuck it where the face of the robot would be. 

 

“Good enough,” he said, smiling as he looked over at Ashley. She grinned and nodded, running a hand through her hair. 

 

Brendon came in then, clapping his hands as he did.

 

“Alright, kids, what do you say we get this show on the road? I want to see this thing come to life,” he said, pulling a chair up to the table where the robot was laid down. Ashley leaned against the wall, watching Josh as he fumbled for a minute.

 

“Oh, yeah, that’s me,” he said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small chip that he hoped had everything saved properly. Ashley helped him flip the robot over, finding a small input he’d asked her to build into it.

 

“So, what is that?” She asked, watching as he flipped it around between his thumb and index finger. He held it up so she could see.

 

“Just a chip, is all. Makes it easier if I need to make any adjustments.” She nodded and stepped back as he placed it into the slot. They flipped the robot back over and watched, waiting for something to happen.

 

“Does it have an on switch?” He asked, looking over to her. She shook her head.

 

“Battery powered, should be charged. I left it overnight to charge so this wouldn’t be a problem,” she said, looking over to Josh.

 

“Josh, did you fuck up?” Brendon asked, saying the one thing that everyone seemed to be thinking.

 

“What? No, I didn’t,” he said but it seemed likely that it was on Josh. There was a whirring noise coming from the body, a computer thinking as it tried to read the data. It likely meant there was a wrong code that was stopping the motions.

 

“What’s it supposed to do? How do we know it’s working or not?” She asked, scratching her arm absently. Josh already knew he’d messed up.

 

“It should reach up and touch the top of it’s head. If it had hair it would essentially be playing with it,” he said, miming the action with his own hair. They all watched him and then looked at the robot. He was a little desperate for it to not be his fault.

 

“You sure you did things correctly?” He asked, looking back up to Ashley. She huffed out a laugh and nodded.

 

“Ran tests on it. It gave a power output which means that there’s power flowing through it, just doesn’t know what it needs to do,” she said and shrugged. Josh sighed and fell back against the wall. He had been so sure of himself and his work. The demo had produced words on the computer, it communicated a few lines that it had been programmed to respond to. He’d taught it to say ‘hello’ and to explain that it was the first of it’s kind. 

 

In the end, though, there was a difference between a few words typed into a screen and a complex action. Movements required so much more than he was used to. He could get it to type an entire book on it’s own but the simple task of lifting it’s arm was a feat in and of itself. He was sure that he could do it, even with the complications but this attempt proved to be a failure on his end.

 

“Help me flip it over, I’ll fix it. I know that I can do it, I just need to find the right set, I’ll do it,” he said, ignoring the way Brendon was trying to comfort him. He tuned it out, not noticing that it was kind words of encouragement rather than anger he kept imagining. He didn’t realize until his hands were shaking with the chip back in his hand that he was crying. He wiped the tears away and turned to leave the room, brushing the hands off that were trying to stop him.

 

“Josh, please,” someone said but there was blood pounding in his ears and he just needed the isolation of his computer and the soft sounds of typing. 

 

“Stop, just stop,” he said, hurrying into the other room and shutting the door behind him. He left the lights off, finding slight comfort in the darkness of it all. 

 

He didn’t realize that it was morning until Brendon was walking in with a cup of coffee and some toast.

 

“Don’t torture yourself over this,” he said softly but could tell already that Josh was doing exactly that. He was working back and forth in his coding, searching endlessly for something that he could fix. It all seemed to blend together after hours and the numbers and letters jumbled together on the screen in front of him. He’d been staring for too long, trying to find a solution, fix something, his brain gave out. Everything started to look the same and Josh realized he was what held their team back, not Ashley, not even Brendon who’d hardly helped this far. Josh was the one who had messed up and caused the team a set back.

 

He tried to fight the wetness in his eyes that only made it harder to read. Brendon noticed quickly and walked over, pulling Josh into a tight hug. It didn’t take long for Josh’s brain to give out completely and he melted into Brendon’s touch, quiet sobs shaking his body.

 

Brendon was whispering above Josh, trying to be helpful but it added onto the guilt until Josh was blubbering, trying to pull away and wipe at his nose, his face. Brendon wouldn’t let him, seemed to know that Josh needed the comfort more. 

 

“This is all my fault, I keep causing problems. We could have been done a long time ago, we could have been done last night and I keep screwing things up, I keep ruining it,” he said and it went on and on, degrading himself over and over. Brendon knew a long time ago that Josh could be sensitive to comments, especially ones that had to do with himself. He knew that Josh was proud of his work and hated for his work to be criticized and while Brendon hadn’t said anything negative, he knew that Josh was imagining just that.

 

“Josh, nobody is perfect. This is not easy and the fact that you got it to even so much as talk with us for that short amount of time was talent,” he said but also understood that it was of little comfort to Josh.

 

“You aren’t holding us back,” Brendon said, his hand gentle over Josh’s back, trying to coax him into calming down.

 

“I hadn’t planned on even getting money for another couple of months, assumed you would take way longer. We’re so far ahead of schedule, it’s outstanding. You’ve done so much in such a short amount of time,” Brendon explained, holding Josh and telling him how good he was until Josh calmed down. He held Josh even after that, rubbing his back gently until he heard soft snores from Josh. He’d expected Josh to fall asleep and let out a sigh, thankful that he’d managed to avoid a crisis.

 

Brendon wasn’t very smooth about shifting Josh so he could lift the man. In fact, Brendon struggled for a good while, throwing Josh’s limp limbs around as he found the easiest way to lift him. Josh didn’t wake for any part of it. Brendon hadn’t known how tired Josh had become and was thankful that he was getting rest now. 

 

Josh woke up the following morning with a headache that he complained about for hours. 

 

Brendon sighed when Josh bypassed breakfast to go back to the computer. 

 

Cold coffee and stale toast was still left on the table.

 

He worked and worked again, Brendon and Ashley worried out of their minds for his physical and mental health. They could tell he was one push away from snapping or having a mental breakdown so they didn’t ask him to take a break. 

 

“He blames himself,” Brendon said quietly one morning when Ashley got fed up with Josh’s incessant need to work, work,  _ work  _ until he broke. She stopped in her tracks and turned around, staring at Brendon whose shoulders slumped. She hadn’t seen the man so defeated in the time she’d known him.

 

“It’s not his fault that the robot didn’t respond,” she said, frowning as she looked down the hallway where she knew Josh was trapping himself in a room. 

 

“No, well, yes, it is, actually. He did mess something up in the code, that wasn’t wrong of him to think. What was wrong was how personally he took it, he went after a task that was beyond any of our capabilities, really. He produced something that was amazing but it wasn’t quite what the project demanded,” Brendon said and it sounded rude off the tip of his tongue but he knew what he had meant wasn’t a stab at Josh or his skills. Ashley seemed to understand that, too. She stayed silent, leaning against the nearest wall. 

 

“I’m worried about him,” Brendon whispered, his eyes sad and his shoulders hunched forward. Ashley missed the man who wouldn’t ever shut up or stop bouncing off walls. 

 

The conversation took place only mere days before one of two hospital trips for Josh. The first one was the same as last time. He worked himself until his entire body gave out and he was out cold on the floor. Brendon had tried shoving food under the man's nose but hardly got a response. He sat in the hospital waiting room, ranting in a whisper to Ashley about how he should have forced Josh to eat, to drink.

 

It was all should have, next time, should have, next time. It didn’t fix the fact that Josh was far too skinny and beginning to get sick. The doctors gave Brendon a stern warning and told him he needed to watch over Josh better, that if Josh couldn’t care for himself then he either needed to stop working altogether or Brendon needed to be tougher in helping. 

 

Brendon sighed and nodded, knowing he couldn’t stop Josh from working.

 

They were back at Brendon’s house, sitting at the dining table with an exhausted looking Josh.

 

“You  _ will  _ eat when I bring food to you. Your fingers will stop typing and your eyes will stop scanning and you will put whatever food is in front of you into your mouth. You will swallow it and keep it down, no ifs, ands, or buts. You will eat it all even if your stomach and your brain tell you that you’re full, understand?” Brendon said, his eyebrows raised. Josh opened his mouth to protest but Brendon wouldn’t let him.

 

“Good,” he started, folding his arms over the table surface. “You  _ will  _ drink any and all water I give you because you need it more than food. There will be no coffee. Take a damn bathroom break, kid.” Josh sighed but couldn’t argue about how realistic the terms of their agreement were.

 

“Anything else?” Josh asked, his tone rude but he hadn’t meant it that way. He was resigned, mostly, edging on depressed at the negative thoughts running through his head. He still felt like a failure, now a failure at his job and at living life.

 

“Sleep, please,” Brendon asked, his tone softer and his eyes soft and everything about him soft. Josh nodded his head and felt like he might cry. 

 

“Yeah, okay,” Josh said and he stood up, his feet carrying him towards his little work room before he stopped and turned back to where his friends sat, looking sadly at the floor.

 

“Is it okay if I, uh, is it okay if I sleep first?” Josh asked, all his late nights and all nighters catching up to him at once. Brendon looked up and Ashley smiled.

 

“Please, get some rest.”

 

The next hospital trip was just as bad, if not worse. 

 

Josh was doing better physically, eating and drinking water but still neglecting sleep. Brendon let that part slide, happy enough that Josh wasn’t fighting the food he was handed. He figured he should have pushed the sleep more when Josh was laying on the floor, quite literally in a puddle of his own tears. 

 

He was crying and crying and couldn’t stop even to save his life. Brendon was worried and tried calming him down, telling Josh that it was okay that the code could wait. It only made Josh’s sobs louder and his body shake harder. 

 

The doctor sighed as he walked up to Brendon, a clipboard in hand that he was bending back and forth as he mulled over his thoughts.

 

“He’s been eating which is good but,” the doctor stopped, pursing his lips for a moment.

 

“I would classify what you saw as a mental breakdown. He’s still working too hard and he’s not dealing with whatever emotional stress he’s inflicting on himself,” the doctor explained and Brendon promised to watch him better

 

They made it back home and Brendon didn’t have to fight with Josh as Josh took himself to bed. 

 

Brendon was woken up the next morning to a teary eyed Josh standing over him.

 

“Shit, do we need to go back? Josh, I thought you were going to sleep?” He asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. There was a sinking feeling in his chest at the thought that Josh was so caught up in this project that he was blatantly disregarding any and all cautions. 

 

“N-no,” he said, reaching up and rubbing at his eyes.

 

“I finished.”

 

They stood in Ashley’s workroom again, the robot was on the table still, motionless and faceless. They had it flipped over and Josh inserted the chip yet again, his breathing unsteady as they flipped the robot back over, all three of them watching it. 

 

Nothing happened, nothing happened, nothing fucking happened and Josh felt his knees get weak. He felt like he was going to throw up, pass out, ball like a baby. He had spent too much of his time on this, had sacrificed so much of himself for this for it to turn into nothing.

  
“Josh, it’s not your fault,” Brendon said with a sigh. Josh had tears in his eyes and on his cheeks and in his head, he had given up. He covered his face and hunched forward, shoulders shaking as he sobbed. Brendon’s arms were around him, trying to comfort what little was left of Josh.

 

“Guys,” Ashley said, receiving a finger from Brendon that told her to wait. “Guys, you need to see this.” 

 

Brendon pulled away and Josh wiped his eyes until they were mostly clear.

  
The robot had it’s hand over it’s head, index finger and middle finger brushing lightly against the top of it’s head. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it took longer than 10 minutes im sorry

Josh collapsed on the spot, a sob ripping through his chest. He was overwhelmed as he watched his own work come to life. He curled in on himself and hid behind his hands and Brendon and Ashley gave him his moment because they knew exactly how much this meant to Josh, knew exactly how much of himself he had sacrificed for this.

 

The robot didn’t do anything else, it’s hand stalling over it’s head and it’s fingers stilling before it returned to the prone position, hands at it’s side. They all stared in disbelief after a moment, letting the shock wear off before Brendon and Ashley swarmed Josh and enveloped him in a hug. 

 

They celebrated that night, and by celebrating they sat down at the table and ate a decent meal together. Ashley no longer looked at Josh as if he was a ticking time bomb and Brendon no longer looked like he was going to rip his hair out. They talked and Josh participated, even offered up a small smile.

 

“I think I’m gonna go to sleep,” Josh said after he’d eaten everything on his plate. Brendon nodded but Ashley began to protest.

 

“Josh, it’s only six. We were gonna go out for dri-” 

 

Brendon shot her a look and Josh was silently grateful. 

 

He went to the room he’d been borrowing and fell into bed, letting the soft sheets cover him completely. He could tell now how abused his body had been of his own accord. His limbs all ached with even the slightest movement. His head hurt, a constant throbbing behind his eyes that made him want to cry. 

 

Josh let out a sigh as he peeled his clothes off and laid back down, pulling the sheets up and over his body. He let out a sigh as he closed his eyes, trying to forget about his anxiety and the overwhelming sadness that had been following him for months. 

 

He tossed and turned for a long time, finally opening his eyes and groaning. There was still excitement from getting his project right coursing through his body and he felt like he might start screaming if he didn’t do something. 

 

The front door closed and Josh was alone.

 

He didn’t want to, really didn’t want to, but it had been a long time since Josh had felt any sort of good and sure, his body seemed to agree. He slid his hand down his body, gasping at the first barely there brush of his hand over his cock. He didn’t have any lube and the pressure started to hurt but he didn’t want to stop. It was a distraction. He couldn’t think about his head still hurting or how his body was in pain because it felt just on this side of too good. It didn’t take him long before he came, his body tensing and his throat feeling like it closed up. Instead of a moan coming out it was a sob. He still had his hand on his dick and now he had tears in his eyes. 

 

Josh didn’t know what he felt. Somewhere between disgusted and disappointed, a little blissed out because it felt good anyway. He kept thinking of his hospital trips and the way that Ashley and Brendon were still worried over him and his health. They were worried about him and he was laying in bed and jacking off like he was back home and like things were okay.

 

Tears and an orgasm were enough to put him to sleep.

 

Josh woke up feeling as miserable as he had the day before. He was starting to regret the project, wishing he could back out, go back home and sleep for a year. He wanted to see it through, though. That small part of him that enjoyed the pain ended up winning out. He was back in the darkened room, sitting at his keyboard and typing and typing until his fingers felt boneless. He at least knew that he was making progress. He was teaching his robot to walk, to move it’s arms. He’d found the base code that worked and now he just needed to write the rest.

 

At most, it was busy work.

 

Brendon sat down by him, looking at the screen as Josh typed.

 

“Does it have a name?” Brendon asked, looking through the codes to see if he could point out what it was.

 

“Yeah, I mean, it’s nothing special. I’ve been calling it J-five-fifty lately. Gives it a little more than ‘the robot’ which is progress,” Josh said with a shrug, looking back to the computer screen. Brendon hummed his response and got up to leave, giving Josh the silence he needed.

 

“Still think it needs a real name.”

 

It took a couple more weeks and a few panic attacks before Josh was able to get his robot moving on it’s own and to an extent, thinking. For the most part it was able to respond to questions, answering in a few words. 

 

Brendon had finished the room he was building. It was just on the other side of all the computers, separated by reinforced walls and bulletproof glass. He had said something about ‘what if it went rogue?’ followed by a really awful imitation of a robot trying to kill Josh. The room looked like any other room in the house. It had a bookshelf and a bed, a couch and a table. It looked like it could have been a dorm if not for the robot sitting on the couch, looking stiff and lifeless where it sat. 

 

Josh stepped into the room, hearing Brendon lock the door behind him. He turned and looked at the glass, knowing that the other two were standing behind it and watching him. They were both terrified of the robot now that it had the ability to move.

 

“What if it tried to kill me?”

  
“What if it exploded?”

 

They thought Josh had a death wish but he didn’t really mind. He had his small laptop in hand, booting up the program as he pulled a chair in front of the robot. 

 

“J-five-fifty?” Josh asked, setting the laptop down on the coffee table that separated them. He saw that code was flying by on its own, the robot thinking. 

 

“J-five-fifty, can you hear me?” Josh asked again, looking up to see the robot shift on the couch, sitting up straight, it’s hands clasped together and resting on its lap.

 

“Yes,” it responded and Josh nodded his head. 

 

“Can I call you Jay for short?” Josh asked, looking down to monitor the code. This was the most active it had been since they’d started live trials.

 

“No,” it said.

 

“Okay, Jay, I was wondering if you would be willing to stand up for me?” Josh asked, looking up to see if the robot would do as asked.

 

“I said no.”

 

There was a moment of panic that shot through Josh at the robots words. He hadn’t programmed any speech beyond yes and no. He stood up quickly and walked to the window, glancing over his shoulder at where the robot’s fingers were tapping against it’s legs. 

 

“Brendon, did you touch my code?” Josh asked, looking back at the glass even though he couldn’t see what was on the other side.

 

The door unlocked and Josh tried to walk calmly. He stood back in the computer room, sealing the robot in the room where it was. Josh rounded on Brendon, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and pushing him into the nearest wall.

 

“What the fuck, man? You couldn’t have given me a warning? I didn’t fucking write that in for J-five-fifty, he shouldn’t have said anything more than those two simple answers,” Josh said, trying to calm himself down. He didn’t like being taken off guard, didn’t like when people messed with his work. He knew Brendon had access, that Brendon probably thought he was doing good. He felt like he was overreacting.

 

Brendon peeled Josh’s hands off his shirt, smoothing it down calmly before he answered.

 

“Didn’t touch your work.”

 

Josh froze, looking at Brendon as the words slowly processed.

 

“What?” He asked dumbly.

 

“I said that I didn’t touch your damn work. I’ve forgotten how to do anything that complex.”

 

Josh stepped back, looking between where the robot was and Brendon.

  
“It did that on its own?” Josh asked, his hands fidgeting nervously. He didn’t want to think about that scenario where the robot was advancing on its own. He bit his lip as he looked back over at the window. The robot had turned it’s head as if it was staring at them through the glass. Josh got chills and nodded his head.

 

“I’ll just go talk to it,” Josh said finally, walking back to the door. He rested his head on it for a moment, taking in a few deep breaths and unlocking it. He stepped through and heard the door lock behind him right away. The robot’s head followed him as he walked back to his chair and took a seat.

 

“So, you can speak?” Josh asked, watching the coding. He was starting to notice that some of the codes weren’t things he’d written. They went beyond any level he had done as of lately. They were more complex, some of them Josh was sure he could have never pulled off. He swallowed as he looked up at the robot.

 

“Yes,” it said, not expanding on the comment.

  
“How did you learn to speak?” He asked, trying to keep himself from wavering under the stare he could practically feel on him. There were no eyes, no nothing, but Josh could feel it.

 

“You taught me, Joshua,” the robot said and Josh almost choked on his spit. He knew for a fact that he hadn’t introduced himself yet.

 

“How did you know my name?” He asked, watching as the robot turned it’s head, looking around the room before back at Josh.

 

“I hear how you guys talk about me. Just now, you were worried. You talked about me with the other human,” the robot said and Josh clamped his mouth shut, looking over to the glass for a moment. He was beyond concerned to be sitting where he was but he felt like he needed to know.    
  
“Brendon,” Josh supplied.

 

“The human doesn’t need a name.”

 

Josh heard something from the other side of the glass, turning his attention to it even though he couldn’t see anything. He took in a deep breath and looked at the robot. 

 

“But I have a name?” Josh asked.

 

The robots head tilted to the side as it stared at Josh.

 

“Of course. You are my creator. I would not be here today if it were not for you, Joshua,” The robot said. 

 

Josh needed to get out as fast as possible. 

 

“Well, Jay,” Josh started, scratching at his head, “That’s all the questions that I have for you today, we’ll talk a different day,” Josh said, grabbing his laptop and standing up. He made his way to the door, hearing the click as it unlocked. He was about to open it when he heard the robot speak again.

 

“That’s not my name,” it said.

 

“Sorry, J-five-fifty, forgot you didn’t like the nickname,” Josh said, turning around so he could see what was happening. The robot had stood, hands at it’s side and head turned to look at Josh.

 

“That’s not my name,” it said again.

 

“J-five-fifty isn’t your name?” Josh asked, raising an eyebrow. That was the only name Josh had ever given to the robot.

 

“No.”

 

“Okay, well what’s your name?” Josh asked, looking at the robot. He watched as it stepped around the backside of the table, it’s arm reaching up and fingers dancing over the top of it’s head. Josh looked down at the computer in his hand and saw one name being spammed across the screen.

 

The computer froze with how fast the code was moving. The name was frozen on his screen. 

  
“Tyler.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i dont feel like this is the best that i could have done but im also out of ideas on how to make it better and you guys deserve an update so here

“We should disable it,” Brendon said, as calmly as he could be in this situation. 

 

They stood in the computer room, lights off and the only sound was computers whirring and Tyler tapping at the window, staring at them like he could see through the one-way glass. Josh didn’t know how Tyler could hear them. 

 

“He has a name,” Josh said quietly. He didn’t want to glance over to Tyler, could feel the stare from eyes that weren’t even there. 

 

“It’s a fucking machine, it doesn’t have a gender or a name besides the one we provide,” Brendon said, yelling it at Josh. He took a step back to breathe, calming himself down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.”

 

Josh shrugged and turned to leave the computer room.

 

“It’s okay. Have Ashley work on the face and hands now. Male features and all,” Josh said, not listening to the frustrated huff from his friend. He went to get food, needing away from people and away from machines. He needed to think. He didn’t remember where in the code he’d written in more speech patterns, he was fairly sure he hadn’t done that. Josh didn’t want to face the possibility that they, mostly him at this point, had created something that was smarter than all three of them combined.

 

Ashley worked quickly. They’d funded in something that looked and felt like real skin and it freaked Josh out. He’d gone into her work room one day to find a face sitting out on the desk along with a hand. He might have screamed and cussed but he denied it when Brendon entered. 

 

“Who’s putting it on the robot?” Ashley asked, all of them standing with their arms folded over their chests. Brendon and Ashley both looked to Josh.

 

“You went in there last time,” Brendon said, shrugging his shoulders. Josh let out a sigh, nervous about going back into that room with something that was unpredictable. He didn’t let the others know how far out of his control the situation had gotten. He put on a smile and nodded his head.

  
“Don’t worry, I checked over the code and I forgot that I had added all that stuff in. The name was just the program finding it’s own thought pattern,” he said, lying to their faces. Brendon and Ashley both visibly relaxed at that.

 

“Really?” Brendon asked, doubting the words but Josh smiled. He took the face and the hands and started to leave the room.

 

“Yeah, I was just exhausted, ya know? It slipped my mind is all,” he explained and they believed his words. Josh hated that they believed him. He was terrified of what he’d created.

 

He stood in the computer room for a long time, just watching. It seemed that Tyler knew the whole time that he was being observed. When Josh had first entered the room Tyler had turned his head in Josh’s direction before he went back to circling the room, his fingertips tracing a line along the walls. Josh sighed as he went to the door, opening it and stepping into the room. 

 

“Jay-”

 

“I said it was Tyler,” he responded and Josh nodded. He thought that at least Tyler stayed firm in his thoughts. 

 

“Okay, Tyler, I have a few things for you. I had a face and hands created for you,” he said, holding them up so Tyler could see. 

 

Tyler walked towards him, not noticing or not commenting on Josh backing up and away from him. Josh had his back to the wall and eyes wide as Tyler came to stand in front of him. He reached out and touched the fake skin, his head turned down, examining it. 

 

“It’ll go on like a mask, give you a face. The hands pull on like gloves,” he explained, holding his hands out to offer them to Tyler. 

 

“Am I not acceptable to you this way?” He asked and Josh choked over his air. He shook his head slowly, aware that by now, Brendon was watching and he was most likely locked inside the room with Tyler. 

 

“You’re fine, I don’t mind,” he said softly, still feeling cornered by Tyler’s presence in front of him. “I was just thinking that later, when we showed you to other people that they would take to you better if you looked more like us,” he said, feeling bad for creating a line between himself and Tyler. 

 

Tyler picked the face up and looked at it. There was nothing on it that stood out, just a nose and a mouth, two eyes, but it would give him more human characteristics. Tyler picked up the hands next and then threw all three items across the room. They hit the wall behind Tyler with a soft thud, falling to the ground and laying there limp. Tyler turned back to Josh and was silent. 

 

There was a knock on the door and Josh looked to it, knew it was his signal to get out. 

  
“I think my friend needs me,” Josh said as calmly as he could, sliding along the wall to avoid Tyler and his close proximity. The door opened for Josh and shut behind him once he was inside the computer room. It was locked and they all stood in the computer room, watching Tyler’s reaction.

 

Josh kept his face calm but his heart was racing, panic setting in at the thought that he could have easily been hurt. 

 

Tyler gravitated towards the couch, sitting down and not moving. They watched for a long time before they gave up, leaving the computer room in favor of sitting at the dining room table. Nobody spoke for a long time, all of them trying to process what was going on.

 

“Think it’s violent?” Ashley asked, looking up at Josh. He was the one who programmed all of the characteristics, he was to blame. Josh shook his head, willing to defend his creation and his own coding.

 

“No, I think it got offended. You heard him, he asked if we thought he wasn’t good enough,” Josh said, worrying the inside of his cheek. Brendon scoffed.

 

“You can’t be serious. It’s a machine, it doesn’t have feelings,” he said, staring at Josh. 

 

“Brendon, give it up. We made a project specifically to test that theory. For all we know, if a robot can think then it can also feel. How do you know that Tyler wasn’t offended by what I offered? He could have,” Josh said, scratching his head as he thought about what he had already coded. Josh kept lying to his friends faces. He kept saying that he did mean to write that in, that he did mean for Tyler to speak, he did mean for him to feel.

 

Josh didn’t mean for any of it to happen. He didn’t write any of it. He had planned to add those in eventually but he had been working at the basics. He was working at getting Tyler to respond to simple questions, was working on getting him to listen to commands. Josh was slowly watching Tyler overcome and surpass his coding, he was growing and developing at his own alarming rate and Josh had no way of stopping it or controlling it. 

 

Brendon was about to say something but he was silenced by Josh’s chair scraping against the hardwood floors. 

 

He didn’t say anything as he left to go to his room, laying down and closing his eyes, fighting with himself to try and get some sleep. He still felt on edge, his nerves tingling and reminding him of the fact that he could have died, Tyler could have killed him. Josh had no idea how strong the robot could be. He assumed that it didn’t matter. It was a machine and Tyler’s fingers could have wrapped around his throat and squeezed until Josh’s spine shattered and his windpipe crushed. 

 

He rolled onto his side and cried, the terror of the afternoon finally catching up with him. 

 

There was a soft knock on his door before it opened, light spilling into the darkened room. Josh was still wearing his jeans from the day, lying on top of the covers. Brendon’s voice as soft as he spoke.

 

“Josh, we gotta talk,” he said and Josh sat up, keeping his back to Brendon. He sniffed and brought his hands up to his face, wiping at the tears on his cheeks. Brendon was taken aback for a moment.

 

“Are you crying?” He asked softly, getting a scoff in response. Josh kept his head down as he got up and walked to brush past Brendon, not caring as he felt hands on his arms, trying to stop him, trying to talk to him.

 

“I’m gonna go work on some coding, I think,” Josh said, coming up with the excuse on the spot. 

 

“Aren’t you already done? You said you were already finished,” Brendon yelled after him, not even given a glance over his shoulder. 

 

Josh pulled a chair up to the window, watching silently as Tyler walked around the room. Josh still wasn’t sure how Tyler sensed his presence but Tyler gravitated towards the window, his fingers tapping right in front of Josh’s nose. Josh flinched at the first sound, noticing how from then on the taps were quieter. They were gentle on the glass, reminding Josh of a heartbeat. 

 

He watched as Tyler stepped away from the window, turning until his body faced the wall where the discarded face and hands were. He walked slowly, bending at the knees to pick all three items up. Tyler walked back to stand in front of Josh, pulling the face on. It fit over his entire head like a ski mask, the front of it painted to look as real as they could get it on such short notice. The eyes didn’t blink and the mouth didn’t move. His eyes were painted open, staring into space. They seemed to stare into Josh’s eyes. Tyler pulled the skin over his hands and then his head tilted down, flexing his fingers and watching the skin stretch and move. 

  
Tyler went back to the couch and sat down, not once turning back to Josh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have the end of this story already written but none of the middle so this is gonna be fun. prepare urself fucker


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry these chapters are so boring. i gotta write a few things out before i can get to the #drama

Brendon got his wish of shutting Tyler down for a few days. Josh promised he’d work on some coding, fix the mistakes that he’d made according to Brendon. Josh knew that they weren’t mistakes, though. He hadn’t intended for Tyler to be able to adapt on his own  _ eventually,  _ he just hadn’t expected it to happen so fast. 

 

Josh sat down in the room across from Tyler, uncomfortable with the blank eyes that stared at him when Tyler focused on him.

 

“We’re going to have to shut you down for a few days to-”

 

“You do not like me. I did something wrong. What?” Tyler asked, not letting Josh finish. Josh liked to think that Tyler was upset by the news, even without the inflection in his voice. Josh shook his head.

 

“No, we’re just doing some modifications. I had some ideas about how to improve your, uh, skin?” Josh tried, knowing he needed to tread carefully. Tyler’s head nodded and he didn’t say anything. Josh had brought the tools he needed in with him, set them on the coffee table while Tyler paced. 

 

“Is it okay if I touch you?” Josh asked, standing up from his chair. Tyler’s head followed him until Josh stopped moving, standing in front of Tyler. He nodded his head before he looked back to the wall and Josh took that as his go ahead. He still explained what he was doing, not wanting it to be taken the wrong way. 

 

“I’m going to take off the skin that we gave you,” he said softly, hands shaking as he reached out, fingers touching Tyler’s neck so he could peel the mask off. Tyler didn’t move, just waited patiently. Josh grabbed a screwdriver off of the table and let out a soft breath. “I’m going to take the glass front off so that I can disconnect the main source of power. When I turn it back on, you may feel like you’ve lost time,” he explained, already working on the screws that held the pieces together. 

 

Tyler stayed quiet until his systems were turned off, his limbs movable now without any resistance. Brendon only came into the room once Tyler had been turned off, helping Josh to move him into Ashley’s work room. 

 

“What did you want?” She asked, taking off pieces and disassembling what she needed. Josh didn’t like seeing Tyler that way. 

 

“I wanted to put in pressure sensors in the normal places. Hands, fingertips, shoulder, feet, maybe,” he said, chewing on one of his nails. “I also want to get some better skin, change the head piece so that it’ll be more lifelike. I want him to be able to blend into society by the time we’re done. That was the goal, right?” He asked, looking over to Brendon who nodded, still unsure. 

 

Josh sat at his computer while he waited on Ashley’s modifications. He added in a few things that he thought might be useful but it amounted to nothing in the end. It was minor speech patterns, movements. Josh knew that Tyler had developed on his own, way beyond what Josh could ever write. He slept away that day, then the next. He slept for a week before Ashley knocked on the door of his room, saying that she was done. 

 

He was back in her workroom, slouched on a desk as she pieced Tyler back together. His skin looked real and Josh wanted to touch it. The skin covered his head and his neck, touched his shoulders before it stopped. Gears and wires under glass was his chest and torso. The skin was on his hands, his forearms, his feet, and his shins. With clothes, he’d be unrecognizable as anything but a human. 

 

She had managed to build eyes, cameras for pupils so Tyler could see for real this time. They could track the way Josh’s could, the eyes could move and look up or down, left and right. He had eyelids so he could blink, he could sleep. Josh would have to write that in before he connected power to Tyler again. 

 

“Is it someone you know?” Brendon asked, staring down at the face that they’d given Tyler. She shrugged and shook her head.

 

“No, not really. I found some photos of a king from a long time ago and molded it off of that. I didn’t want there to be any doppelgangers,” she explained and it was good enough for Josh. 

 

“Should we turn him back on?” Josh asked, excited to see what would happen. 

 

He had tyler back in his room, sitting on a couch when he hooked the cables back up. He went back to the chair that he’d brought in for himself and sat, waiting patiently while his programs booted up. When Tyler started moving again there was a knock on the door. Brendon wanted Josh out of the room but he stayed anyway, waiting quietly. The first thing that Tyler did was touch his face. 

 

“I can feel,” he said, looking up at Josh. He just nodded, waiting for Tyler to figure everything else out, too. “I can see?” He asked, looking around the room, looking to the couch he was sitting on. His fingertips ran over the fabric and Josh thought he might have heard a sigh.

  
“We made some adjustments but I hoped it was for the better,” he said, watching Tyler as he stood up and walked around the room. He dragged his fingertips across the walls and surfaces, trying to understand what it was he was doing. He stopped in front of Josh, not saying anything as he reached out and touched Josh’s cheek. 

 

Josh sat there frozen, unsure what to do. The fingertips on his cheek were gentle and the pounding on the door was not. Brendon was agitated, worried, he had every right to be, but Josh didn’t feel unsafe. He looked up at Tyler and wished Tyler could show expressions. He was capable of smiling if he wanted but Josh wasn’t sure if Tyler could even feel happy. 

 

“I am touching you?” Tyler asked for clarification and Josh nodded. Josh reached his hand up and touched the back of Tyler’s hand. 

 

“And I’m touching you,” he said in return and Tyler stared at the spot where Josh was touching him, trying to process the fact that he could feel it. 

 

Josh spent more and more time in the room with Tyler. He kept saying it was for their project, that he was making sure, come reveal, Tyler would be able to adapt easily. He learned things quickly and the best way to teach and to program human behavior, was for Tyler to experience it himself. 

 

“What is happy?” Tyler asked one day. Josh had brought a deck of cards with him and taught Tyler how to play. They’d gone through five rounds already and Tyler had smoked Josh in every single one. Josh didn’t know how to answer. He set down an ace and scratched the back of his head.

 

“It’s like, you feel warm inside. Things feel good,” he said and knew it was a lousy description. 

 

“I have never felt warm before,” Tyler said and Josh thought that he sounded sad. 

 

That was the first night that Josh fell asleep in the same room as Tyler. He was leaned against the back of the couch, exhausted after spending all day talking and explaining. He woke up to Tyler standing over him, staring down at him. He wanted to scream and to get as far from Tyler as possible but he knew that Brendon wouldn’t allow him back inside this room if he panicked.

 

“What?” Josh asked, trying to get the inflection out of his voice.

 

“I was calculating,” Tyler said, his head tilting to the side. Josh let his eyes fall closed as he tried to breathe. 

 

“I think it’s time I go to bed,” he said, standing up. Tyler was far too close and he didn’t back up. He had no idea of personal space and what was appropriate.

 

“You are scared,” Tyler stated, grabbing onto Josh’s arm so he couldn’t move. The grip was a little tighter than Josh would have liked and he winced, trying to pull his arm free. 

 

“I’m not scared,” he tried but his voice was shaky and he was starting to panic. He had no idea what Tyler would do.

 

“You lied to me,” Tyler said, his grip tightening for a moment before he let go. Josh moved quickly, getting over to the door and knocking on it so Brendon could unlock it for him. He kept his eyes on Tyler who stood there, unmoving. Brendon unlocked it right as Tyler yelled. Josh didn’t know he was capable of more noise production.

 

“You lied to me,” he repeated, even after the door had closed. Tyler stood next to the window, staring into the computer room. He had eyes now with video cameras, he was capable of seeing things but he still shouldn’t be able to see Josh. His eyes shouldn’t have followed Josh as he got up and backed out of the room. They shouldn’t have followed him as he paced back and forth. 

  
Tyler tapped two times on the glass, pausing and then repeating. It was the same timing as Josh’s own heart. He stood in the corner of the room and cried. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow 2 chapters in 2 days
> 
> also i dont completely hate this chapter. you'll see why and then probably hate me so it works

Josh would have liked to never go back in the same room as Tyler. Brendon was encouraging that he stayed far away from even the computer room but Josh kept mumbling about his job, his want to see this project through. He hid behind his computer, watching as Tyler tapped his heartbeat into the window. It always matched Josh’s, never failing. 

 

“You lied,” Tyler said, muffled behind the glass. It was always the same words and Josh hated them because he didn’t lie. Maybe a little. He wasn’t terrified of what Tyler had done, he still believed that Tyler was just observing and that he didn’t intend any harm. Josh, like anyone, didn’t like waking up with someone standing over them. 

 

The first time Josh went back into the room, he was immediately backed into a corner. Tyler stood too close, their chests almost touching. Tyler squinted at him, head tilting. Josh came to realize that his head tilt was him calculating. 

 

“You lied,” he said again, hand to Josh’s shoulder, holding him in place. Brendon kept knocking at the door, kept asking for Josh to get out, get away, turn Tyler off, but Josh ignored it all. He stood there and stared back at Tyler, not giving a response. He waited until Tyler was pulling away, taking his spot on the couch like usual and waiting patiently for Josh to ask questions, to suggest a new card game. Josh stood there instead, not sure what to make of how Tyler responded or how he responded. 

 

The day was uneventful. Tyler was calm, answering any and all questions that Josh had. 

 

“Can I touch you?” Josh asked. They were sitting on the floor, a mess of cards in between them. Josh had been about to win and Tyler reached out and messed the cards up, effectively making Josh lose whatever play he’d been about to make. Tyler nodded.

 

Josh leaned forward and pressed his fingertips to Tyler’s cheek, raising his eyebrows.

 

“Can you feel this?” He asked and Tyler stared at Josh, head tilting to the side. 

 

“Yes,” he said, voice seeming softer than usual. The skin under Josh’s fingertips felt real. It was soft, pleasant to touch, maybe a little colder than it should have been to be human. Josh didn’t mind. He scooted closer to Tyler, their knees touching where they both sat cross legged. Josh had both of his hands cupping Tyler’s cheeks, holding him steady. Tyler stared at Josh, trying to understand what was happening. Josh stared at Tyler, at his lips. He wondered what would happen if he had kissed Tyler, if he’d get hit, if he’d get yelled at. He wondered if Tyler was capable of kissing back. Josh shook himself out of his thoughts, eyes drifting down to Tyler’s chest. He could see the gears and the wires, all of the components that brought Tyler to life. He remembered that Tyler wasn’t a person, that he shouldn’t think about those things. 

 

Josh’s thumb brushed over Tyler’s lips and he swore he heard Tyler sigh.

 

“Joshua,” Tyler said and it brought Josh out of his thoughts. He looked up to Tyler’s face to find his eyes closed. He let his hands drop back to his lap and he tried to clear his throat, looking away from Tyler.

 

“Just making sure things were working properly, that  you could feel and all,” he said as a lousy excuse. Josh ignored his thought for the rest of the day until he was away from Tyler and his calculating, until he was away from Brendon who kept mentioning how it wasn’t healthy to spend that much time with someone.

 

“It’s unhealthy to be with someone all day, everyday. Even if you’re married to someone, you need to spend time apart,” Brendon reasoned, trying to get Josh to stop. 

 

“Good thing we aren’t married,” Josh shot back, trying to make his way around Brendon to go to his room, to go to sleep. Brendon wasn’t letting him. 

 

“It’s not even a real person,” Brendon said, frustration lacing his tone. Josh rolled his eyes, frustrated that he had to have two arguments at once.

 

“First off, it doesn’t matter if he came out of his mother's vagina or if we constructed him. He said that his name was Tyler, has referred to himself as a he, respect him. Second, you’re right, he’s not real. So why does it matter if I spend time with him? He was our project, you wanted me to make him able to blend in with humans. I am,” Josh said and the words shocked Brendon into silence. He didn’t try and stop Josh as Josh stepped around him. He slammed his bedroom door before crashing into his bed. 

 

He was frustrated and did the one thing that he could do to let off steam and not be too obvious. He rolled onto his back and reached his hand into his pants, palming himself slowly. He let out a quiet sigh, pulling his hand away to unbutton his jeans and make it easier. Josh tried to keep his mind blank as he got hard, tried not to think about anyone in particular or even any _ thing.  _ He couldn’t stop himself though with a hand wrapped around his cock and the thought of kissing Tyler on his mind. 

 

Josh thought about what it would be like if he got to kiss Tyler, all soft skin and cold glass under his fingertips and the thought didn’t scare him away, didn’t wilt his cock at all. He was shaking as he wondered what Tyler’s mouth would be like, if Tyler got on his knees and offered to suck Josh off. He doubted it would be wet, doubted it would have the feeling of a human's but he didn’t care. Josh wondered if it was possible for them to ever be anything more besides creator and experiment. He wondered if Ashley would adjust Tyler again, if he could ever fuck Tyler. It sent a shiver down his spine. 

 

Josh got off to the thought of Tyler touching him. He imagined it as Tyler’s hand instead of his own, experimentally circling the tip, fingers tightening around his length. He imagined that Tyler’s hand moved slowly, teasing him the whole time. He came like that, Tyler’s name on his lips as he did. 

 

The next day, Josh intended on forgetting. He stepped into the room and saw Tyler on the couch, watching him. Tyler’s hands twitched in his lap and Josh thought of those hands and how those hands were the ones that had him coming on his shirt, writhing on his bed. His dick gave a twitch and Josh sighed as he sat down. He started to ask a question but Tyler cut him off with his own.

 

“Can I touch you?” He asked and the question was innocent. It didn’t imply anything other than curiosity but Josh couldn’t help the way his dick started to get hard. He shifted uncomfortably before he nodded. 

 

“That’s fine,” he said, voice quiet enough that if Brendon was watching, he wouldn’t catch the way it cracked. Tyler stood up and walked closer, nudging his way in between Josh’s thighs. It was far too intimate, far too much like something Josh might think about tonight with a hand on his cock. 

 

Tyler mimicked his touches. First, a hand to his cheek, thumb stroking along the cheekbone in Josh’s face. Two hands on his cheeks, cradling his face and Josh’s eyes closed. He wanted Tyler to lean down and kiss him, thought that it was a perfect moment for that. A thumb was on Josh’s lips and it took everything he had to not kiss the pad of his thumb or suck it into his mouth. Josh’s mouth fell open and he looked up at Tyler. His expression was impossible to read. He hated the way his cock twitched in his jeans, demanded attention.

 

It hardly lasted longer than that. Tyler nodded before returning to the couch and Josh all but ran from the room. Brendon tried getting him to talk but he shook his head, said he had to do something. He did, after all. 

 

Josh closed the bedroom door and leaned against it, hand unbuttoning his pants. He didn’t ever make it to the bed, standing with his weight against the door. He had a hand on his cock, thumbing at the tip and whining into the palm of his other hand. He imagine this time, what it would be like if Tyler fucked him. He thought about Tyler pushing him down, holding him in place until he couldn’t move. He wondered what it would feel like if Tyler was capable of such things. He came over his hand, hitting his head against the door. 

 

Josh’s knees buckled and he was on the floor, a sob coming up. He hardly had the mindset to pull his hand out of his pants. Josh covered his face as he sobbed into his palms, not noticing that he still had come on his fingertips, that it got on his forehead and in his hair. He cried because he had feelings for Tyler. He had no idea where they had come from besides the fact that they came fast and harder than he expected. 

 

He figured it made sense with the way he always jumped to defend Tyler, how he had no problem going in when Tyler could easily kill him. He sat and let Tyler touch him today, almost asked if he could have more. He’s now spent two times in his room, getting off to the thought of what if’s and the thought of Tyler. 

 

Josh thought it was cheesy but he wanted to make love with someone one day.

  
He wanted to make love with Tyler.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOOK MOM im not dead
> 
> i havent forgotten about this, it was just on hold while i found motivation. i've been lacking that in general and i went on a writing binge tonight so fuck yeah. 
> 
> lil update of sorts: i've got some exciting new things coming in the future and i can't wait to show you BUT i'm gonna for once be smart and wait until i've finish a couple things. this story is nearing it's close so i'm gonna finish this up and get back to working on 100 ways. i wanna complete those two as well as my fantastic beasts au before i post any new multi-chap cause i wont be _that_ guy who forgets about them

Josh was still ashamed of himself when he sat down at breakfast and was forced to stay until he finished. Brendon and Ashley were starting to get concerned with his behavior.

 

“Something happened,” Brendon pointed out, raising his eyebrows at Josh who just stayed quiet. He shovelled food into his mouth to give him an excuse to not respond. He just looked up at Brendon and chewed, a blank expression on his face. Ashley was the first one to really lose her temper.

 

“Jesus, Brendon, this is getting fucking ridiculous. Can’t you see he’s in love with that goddamn machine?” She yelled, standing up from her seat. It tipped backwards and hit the floor, startling Brendon and Josh. 

 

He thought that he’d been careful to hide whatever infatuation he’d had with Tyler but it seemed he wasn’t so careful.

 

“Ashley, quit making things up. It’s a fucking robot,” Brendon said, looking between Ashley and Josh. He was disbelieving of her words but he looked over to Josh, eyes trained on the table and it seemed to make sense to everyone.

 

“I have to work on something,” Josh said quickly, his first words spoken that day. He stood up and brought his plate into the kitchen before moving into the computer room. He shut the door behind him, the lights off in the room and he sagged to the floor. He couldn’t help the tears that sprung to his eyes. They weren’t sad. Mostly ashamed and embarrassed. He didn’t want either of them to know how much Tyler had started to rule his thoughts, how he’d gone back to his room the last two nights and touched himself to the thought of Tyler. 

 

He sniffed and sat back in his chair, realizing how much of a disappointment his actions were. He was a human being, in love with a robot. He justified it in his head with a lack of human contact, his own fault, and spending time with Tyler too much, also his own fault. He justified it a lot of ways in his head but the shame still lay in his chest, still remained even after he’d wiped his tears and Brendon began hovering over him.

 

“It’s not true, is it?” Brendon finally asked after he watched Brendon rewrite the same code over and over into the computer as a way to fake being busy. Josh froze for a second, wishing with everything in him that he could deny it. He really wanted to say that he wasn’t in love with a machine, that Ashley was pulling things out of her ass but he knew better than to lie. He’d always been terrible at it anyway.

 

“What’s true?” He asked, going for forgetting rather than admitting. He could hear Brendon swallow behind him and then move. He heard the door open and Brendon step out. He paused halfway in the doorway and when Josh turned to looked, Brendon’s head was hung. He looked upset and a little scared.

 

“Just please, be careful. This thing is developing on it’s own, I know it is. Be careful because I don’t want to lose you,” he said and it seemed so ominous to Josh. How could he possibly get lost? But then again, there were things Tyler did that were grinding in his head, setting off warning signals that he shouldn’t ignore but he did anyway. He wanted to believe that Tyler was good, that they’d finish him and he could go out into the real world, blend in.    
  
Maybe it was a delusion but Josh had thoughts about holding hands and grocery shopping together. He thought about going out to a restaurant and going on dates. He knew it sounded crazy, that he should have stopped himself but he didn’t do anything of the like.

 

No, instead, he went to the door and opened it. He felt relief when he saw Tyler waited for him, relief when Tyler even smiled. He hadn’t created any emotions in Tyler’s code but he overlooked that, let it slide because for that moment, he felt happy. 

 

The day before he’d been terrified to come in and be alone with Tyler but after breakfast, after the night he’d had, any sort of common sense had flew out the door. Brendon and Ashley were judging him, were angry with him for getting too close. His own friends seemed to think it was a mistake. Coming to Tyler felt like solitude, felt like he didn’t have to lie or hide and maybe that was why he fell in love. Tyler didn’t get disappointed in him and didn’t tell him he was a mistake. Instead he smiled and he cupped Josh’s cheek and smiled wider and things felt okay. 

 

Josh spent the rest of his day with Tyler, forgetting eating in favor of feeling like he was wanted. 

 

Tyler was even responding well to his questions, answering them with more inflection in his voice, every day seemed like an improvement. 

 

He left Tyler with an apology when his eyelids started to droop, getting up so he could leave. He found Brendon on the other side of the window, seeming like he had been waiting for Josh to finish. He still looked displeased with Josh’s choice of people to love but he didn’t say anything on that note. Josh was thankful that the conversation wouldn’t turn into an argument or end with tears. 

 

“He seems like he’s getting better,” Brendon said, arms crossed as they both watched what Tyler did when he was alone. He traced his fingers over the walls, walking in circles in the confined space. Tyler paused when he found an imperfection in the wall, examining it and running his fingers over it again before moving along. Josh nodded.

 

“Yeah, he’s starting to adapt to human things, getting used to touching,” he said and then looked down, that same feeling of shame returning. “Part of it, I think, is because of getting more human interaction,” Josh said, wincing slightly when he could feel Brendon tense next to him but thankfully, he didn’t comment. 

 

“Do you think we could do a press reveal? I’ve got news stations and internet writers that have been asking about the project I had hinted at. They’d love to get their hands on this,” he explained and Josh thought it over for a minute. While Tyler wasn’t perfect, he definitely seemed like he could handle a small crowd of reporters. 

 

“I’d want to inject some other human interaction, first,” Josh said, knowing that that would be a good first test to see how Tyler might react to unknown faces. While Brendon’s face wasn’t unknown, his presence wasn’t appreciated by Tyler and it might be a good starting place. 

 

“Yeah, and who are you going to throw in there? Some innocent civilian?” Brendon asked, seeming apalled at the idea. Josh almost laughed. He might have if he hadn’t been so drained from the emotional days he’d been having.

 

“No, I meant you. I’d go in with you at first and hopefully he can associate whatever feelings he has towards me onto you,” Josh explained, knowing what Brendon was going to say when he opened his mouth. He knew it was bound to be a ‘hell no’ and something about how robots can’t have feelings but he stopped himself, sighing. They both knew it was a bad situation all around.

 

“Fine, yeah, that’s not actually a bad idea,” he said and Josh felt a little bit of pride. It was the same feeling when Tyler first came to life.

 

“Really?” He asked and Brendon nodded, even offering up a small smile. It was something Josh hadn’t seen in a long time.

 

“Yeah, and Josh?” Brendon stopped, his frame softening and his head hanging for a moment. “Look, I’m really sorry about how I’ve been acting. I’ve kind of abandoned you recently when you needed some support and I feel guilty. I don’t know what Ashley is thinking or if she’ll come around but I just want you to know that I support you, okay? I wish things weren’t turning out the way they have but I guess I can’t blame you, either,” he explained and Josh felt like something had been lifted off of his chest. He knew the situation wasn’t ideal but the support he felt and the apology made him feel a little better. 

 

“Thank you, I really do appreciate it. I know that I haven’t been the best either so I’m sorry, too,” he said but Brendon waved it off. 

 

“Just go eat, okay? I don’t want to have to force feed you,” he said with a short laugh and Josh agreed to do that much before he slept.

 

There was still tension in the house and Ashley barely even looked at Josh but it was an improvement. Josh didn’t feel quite so alone anymore and Brendon didn’t tell him that falling in love was a mistake again. Josh knew that loving a robot wasn’t ideal but that was his mistake to make and if it ended in heartbreak, he could deal with that. 

  
He thought that maybe getting a chance to love Tyler was the best thing for him. Somewhere down the line he’d find reason for why he fell. Maybe it was the desire for human touch. He’d created the perfect person, someone who had eyes for only him, whose touch was as soft as everything he’d dreamed about. Tyler seemed to care about him and Josh couldn’t have stopped it even if he wanted to.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 more chapter guys !!

Things calmed down outside of the room with Tyler. Brendon was kinder, sat with him and carried on polite conversations when Josh sat down and ate. It became rarer and rarer that they even had to remind him to eat. Brendon was adequately pleased with that revelation but Ashley still seemed harsh, constant judging eyes. Josh got to a point where he stopped caring about what she thought. Brendon seemed to know what situation Josh had gotten himself into and while he didn’t quite approve, he stopped trying to force him out of it. Josh was happy about that. 

 

He spent some more time with actual people now, even going home once to sleep in his very own bed. He fed his already dead plants with brown and falling leaves but it gave him a sense of feeling like himself again. 

 

Finally alone completely again, he couldn’t sleep. Being away from Tyler felt foreign. He’d been with him for months upon months, working daily to fix, to rewrite code, to train Tyler on how to be more human like, to fit in. To be away felt wrong. Even so, he always thought of Tyler. Nothing else seemed to pass his mind anymore. 

 

This time when he touched himself to the thought of Tyler, he didn’t feel quite so dirty. It was the same as always. He felt Tyler’s hand stroking him, easing him to orgasm. This time he heard a whispered I love you when he came, making a mess over his stomach and chest. He laid there for a moment, staring up at the ceiling. 

 

There was no regret for once, no feeling of regret or self loathe which he thought was in part to some of Brendon’s acceptance. Josh thought that one day, maybe, just maybe, he’d have a chance to actually, truly be in love with Tyler. He thought about laying in bed next to him, cuddling with him. He could study engineering with the money he was making from this program. He could learn to build Tyler new parts, could make him feel warm to the touch. It would be perfect, them together.

 

Of course, it was all fantasies for the moment. He drove back to Brendon’s place with a smile on his lips, wondering when he might be able to actually take Tyler home with him or have him stay with Tyler. An experiment, of course. He’d never be able to tell Brendon how badly he longed to crawl into bed with a machine of all things. It was hard to think of Tyler as solely a machine when day after day he got more and more real. 

 

Josh found Ashley sitting at the table, glaring into a cup of coffee.

 

“Did you have a good night?” She asked, her words bitter, judging. It made Josh feel like she somehow knew about what he did alone in his bed, something that, well, she might know about. As gross as he’d felt, that seemed to be the only way to get to sleep. Tyler’s name on his lips as he spilled over his hand, rolling to his side and not even caring about the mess until morning. 

 

“Great,” he said, not missing the scoff that it earned him.

 

“Did you eat?” Brendon asked and Josh nodded, not even needing to lie. 

 

“Yeah, made breakfast at home, sorry I got here later than I intended,” Josh said, ducking his head nervously. Brendon didn’t seem to mind. 

 

Josh headed for the computer room, staring for a minute at Tyler. He was stood in the center of the room, staring at the window. To him, it was just a mirror but even from one of the first times they’d met, it seemed to Josh that he had a sense of who was behind it anyway. Tyler tilted his head when Josh stopped walking to stare back and it pulled a small noise from Josh’s chest. He was just glad that Brendon or Ashley weren’t in the room with him. 

 

“Going in?” Brendon asked when he entered the room, finding Josh just staring. He nodded after a moment, pulling his jacket off and setting it on the back of his chair that he hadn’t even sat in for a long time. 

 

“Yeah, sorry, I was just studying,” he said and Brendon seemed to take the excuse without a second thought. 

 

“How close do you think he is to a decent presentation to the public?” He asked and Josh was quiet for a moment. He was trying to remember behavior that didn’t turn into fantasies when he was in his bed at night. It seemed that a lot of those had been tainted by orgasms. Josh blushed and then shrugged. 

 

“Watch what happens today. I think that he’s close. We could do it next week and he should be ready. He’ll still seem a little mechanical, not quite blending in completely but it should work,” he said and Brendon nodded. Brendon sat down in front of the window, waving at Josh towards the room. He took a deep breath and nodded, unlocking the door and stepping inside.

 

Tyler looked to him immediately, a smile even coming to his face. It was slightly and would have gone over anyone’s head if they hadn’t spent so much time with Tyler but Josh noticed.

 

“Hello,” he said calmly, trying to get the blush off his face, trying to get his heartrate to come back down so he wouldn’t give himself away. Tyler stayed silent for a moment, seeming like he was scanning Josh. 

 

That was one thing Josh was sure he couldn’t do, maybe. He didn’t remember Ashley installing any sort of capabilities in that sense but then again, Tyler had learned on his own. He done things on his own that Josh had taken credit for to get Brendon’s worries off his back. But maybe Brendon had had a right to worry. Josh shook those thoughts from his head, walking over and sitting on the couch they’d put in the room.

 

“Come sit?” He asked, patting the spot next to him. Tyler sat down next to him, his posture stiffer than any humans but that didn’t seem to be something that Josh could really control. He had no way to change that. Maybe Tyler would one day learn bad habits from watching other humans, from watching Josh. But he was back to daydreams and fantasies. He cleared his throat to bring him back to the present. 

 

“So, sorry, how would you feel about meeting other people?” He asked and noticed that Tyler did seem to stall. Josh thought that if he’d been any sort of relaxed then he might have even tensed. 

 

“I don’t like people,” he said and Josh sighed softly, nodding his head in understanding. Josh felt about the same. Might have been why he’d fallen so deep with Tyler since he wasn’t quite human, didn’t have quite the same annoying patterns that Josh seemed to despise in others.

 

“Hey, I understand. I don’t really like dealing with people either but they just want to see. You’re a project that they’re all excited to see the results of,” he explained scratching the back of his neck. “You’re kind of a miracle to them.” 

 

Tyler was quiet for a long time. He looked over to Josh, studying, watching, it was unnerving. Josh wasn’t sure if Brendon was still watching or if he had left but if he was still there, his blush had to have been obvious. 

 

“Do you want me to go?” Tyler asked, his voice soft. Usually he spoke loudly, sure of himself. Josh thought that maybe that was the only thing his program knew how to do but it seemed that assumption was wrong. Tyler sounded confused, even. Josh nodded after a moment. 

 

“I’d like it if you did,” he said, looking back over to Tyler. The stare he got in return was unnerving, too intense to hold for more than a few seconds. He looked away again, choosing to stare at the floor even though he could feel Tyler’s eyes on him the whole time.

 

“Okay,” he said, voice back to it’s natural sureness. “I’ll go for you.”

 

The silence seemed to stretch on forever and Josh was lost at what he should even do. He was having trouble staying in the present, his fantasies pushing at his brain, reminding him of all of the things he wanted, dreamed of. All of the things that seemed so far out of reach yet so close. Tyler was calm, almost human like that it was getting mistaken in Josh’s mind. He forgot more often than not that he built Tyler’s program from the ground up, everything was handwritten by him, edited a thousand times over. He’s spent more time in front of that computer than he did in his childhood.

 

He could still feel the stare on him so he looked back up to meet Tyler’s eyes. Immediately he regretted that decision but only half way. 

 

Tyler leaned in immediately, he cupped Josh’s cheeks and held it so Josh didn’t get the chance to turn away before Tyler’s lips were on Josh’s. It was soft and there wasn’t much to it, how could Tyler have known any better but even so, it meant the world to Josh. His heart was stuck in his throat and he was trying to remember how he was supposed to respond to a kiss. It wasn’t what he’d pictured when he lay in bed at night but that didn’t seem to matter so much. It was still Tyler’s lips, cold yet still soft, pressing against his until it was gone and the only sound was Josh’s breathing and his pulse in his ears. 

 

A part of him prayed that Brendon had left, that he hadn’t seen but there was also a side that didn’t care anymore. 

 

Everyday it was getting harder and harder for him to hide his feelings. He thought that that might have been what really pushed Ashley over the edge into hating him, maybe it was other things. Josh didn’t know. He stammered when he tried to talk.

 

“I-I have to talk to Brendon,” he said, his cheeks feeling like fire. Tyler only nodded, dropping his hand from Josh’s face.

 

“I’ll be back, okay?” Josh said, meeting Tyler’s eyes one last time. There was something hidden in his eyes that Josh didn’t know what to make of but he didn’t mind. He didn’t know that he could mind it. Tyler had kissed him and he thought that maybe his dream of being with Tyler might come true. 

 

Tyler seemed at a loss for words or maybe he just didn’t care but Josh didn’t stick around to find out. He almost tripped over his own feet to get out. It wasn’t that he thought the kiss was bad, just lingering embarrassment. 

 

When Josh got into the computer room he was a little saddened to see that Brendon was still there. Josh had no doubts that Brendon had seen the kiss.

 

“Come on, let’s go call a press conference for him,” Brendon said, waving Josh out of the room. 

 

They sat at the kitchen while Brendon called people. He laughed and talked on the phone and from what Josh heard, it sounded like they were pleased to see him doing something again. He set his phone down after he’d called the last contact, rubbing at his face.

 

“So, Monday, think Tyler will be ready?” He asked, looking up to meet Josh’s eyes. There was a lot that Josh wanted to work on with him, not all of his ideas were for the project so he just gave in and nodded.

 

“Yeah, that’ll work,” he said, smiling slightly when he looked up at Brendon. “Want to go try and talk to him? It’ll be good practice before a group of new people,” he said and Brendon seemed hesitant on going in there but the logic outweighed his fears.

 

“Sure.”

 

When they got back into the computer room, they both froze. The door to Tyler’s room was wide open and there was no sign on him anywhere.

  
“Shit.”


	10. Chapter 10

Brendon’s first instinct was to blame Josh. 

 

“What the fuck did you do?” He asked, his voice edging on hysteria. Josh wasn’t quite sure why Brendon had to panic first. Sure, maybe Tyler had gotten out, was roaming the house but Tyler had shown a lot of progress, he really had. 

 

“Nothing, I swear I didn’t,” Josh said, more concerned than anything. Tyler knew nothing besides that room. Josh was worried that he was lost and that he could get himself into trouble. 

 

“You were too fucking caught up in him. Why’d you have to go and fall in love?” He asked, turning on Josh and backing him into a corner. There was a brief thought that Brendon might get violent with the way his face got red and his hands balled into fists. Josh didn’t know what he could do. 

 

“Brendon, please, I didn’t leave it unlocked so this could happen, that’s one thing I always remember,” Josh tried, forcing himself to think back to when he’d left, trying to remember if he really had locked the door or not. He just drew a blank. For all he knew, this was his fault.

 

“God, you’re impossible,” Brendon said, backing off a little. It was enough that Josh could breathe again, his own panic starting up.

 

“He,” Josh started, looking around, trying to find any sign of what might have happened. He was coming up empty and the longer he stood there, the more he realized he knew nothing about Tyler. He didn’t know what Tyler would do if he got out, where he’d be likely to go. “He’s been doing so much better, Brendon, I swear.”

 

Brendon sighed at that, all but collapsing into a chair. He scrubbed at his face, looking more defeated than Josh had seen in a long time. 

 

“So, he’s just exploring?” Brendon asked, sounding like he was trying to convince himself of that, too. Josh didn’t honestly know what Tyler would do but he didn’t want to go to the worst case scenario so he nodded.

 

“Yeah, wouldn’t you?” He said softly and Brendon seemed to deflate a little more. They both sat down, trying to wait out their slowly dying panic. They were quiet, staring into nothing when it happened.

 

The room went from dimly lit to red, the warning lights flashing and sirens starting up. Brendon tensed immediately, his eyes going wide. Josh didn’t know what the sirens were for, what was happening. This wasn’t really his home, after all. 

 

“What’s that for?” He asked finally though, Josh knew it couldn’t be anything good. In his days, he had never experienced a siren that meant something good had happened. 

 

Brendon stood up and looked around, shaking his head in disbelief. 

 

“That means that someone tried getting into the security room. They failed the passcode enough times,” he said, leaving the room and heading down halls. Josh followed behind him quickly. He’d never assumed that Brendon had enough security here to require a room for it. As they walked he started to notice metal on the ceiling, emergency shutdown features. Brendon had been scared of something. 

 

The sirens got louder and they both froze as a metal door came down in front of the two of them, sealing them in the hall. They turned around and it was the same on the other side. They had nowhere to go.

 

“And this means?” Josh asked, suddenly terrified. He didn’t want to believe that this was his fault, his creation and his codes.

 

“This means that he broke into the room. What is he after?” Brendon asked, looking over to Josh. He seemed less angry than he did before. More worried, not wanting to believe that Josh could have written this sort of behavior in unknowingly. 

 

“I don’t know, he’s never said anything about this. He never even asked about the house, he shouldn’t know about this,” Josh said frantically. Brendon paused, though, leaning against a wall. He seemed defeated then.

 

“He was learning,” Brendon stated, his head thudding back against the wall. Josh just stared at him, confused and a little more than lost.

 

“What?”

 

“I asked you, at the beginning. He named himself and I asked you if he had the potential to be learning things faster than you coded. You said there was no way and I wanted to believe you,” Brendon explained and the conversation came rushing back to Josh. He realized his mistake. Josh had wanted so badly for Brendon and even Ashley to not hate his creation. They had problems with Tyler from the very start and they had both been right. Josh didn’t want to believe it, he wanted this project to work so badly that he overlooked a red flag. 

 

“I lied, Brendon, I’m so sorry. He named himself and I didn’t know what to do, I thought it was just something small, how could I have anticipated this?” He asked, pulling at his hair as he paced back and forth in the hall. 

 

“You should have been honest with me,” Brendon snapped, sighing and trying to calm himself down. 

 

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” Josh said again, moving next to Brendon and leaning against the wall. He slid down to the floor after a moment, realizing there was no way around this situation. They couldn’t leave and they couldn’t do anything to stop Tyler, either. “What’s in that room anyway? How could he even have learned that if I didn’t know?” He asked, looking over to Brendon when he sat down next to Josh. 

 

“The computer that Tyler was hooked up to. It was hooked up to my house. I don’t know what he did but he did it,” Brendon said. The code went beyond both of their knowledge and they had no way to predict what could even happen. 

 

“And what could he want that’s in there? Want so bad that he’d break in?” Josh asked. Brendon sort of laughed, humorless but the sound was still there.    
  
“Fuck, there’s a lot of stuff in there. Mainly cameras to watch. For a long time, back when I was working, people would try and break in here a lot. They often tried to blackmail me for my ideas, my projects,” he explained, running a hand through his hair. “It got so bad that people were breaking in so much that the cops stopped showing up. I rigged this house to self destruct,” he explained and Josh was shocked.

  
“Why the fuck would you do that?” He asked and Brendon looked a little pleased with himself.

 

“I did it so it shouldn’t kill anyone. The house collapses and traps the person inside. The minute it’s initiated, the video footage is emailed to a back-up account, it was a safety thing,” he said, trying to think of what else Tyler might have been after. He was coming up blank.

 

The intercoms in the house came on and both men tensed.

 

“Joshie,” it said, the voice shrouded in static. Josh didn’t like the name, didn’t want to hear Tyler speak anymore but he had no idea what he could do. “I’m so sorry it had to come to this. You’ve been good but you’re the only one who could stop me, I can’t have that,” he explained. Moments later a woman's voice came on the intercom, counting down the self destruct sequence. 

 

The both began prying at the door, trying to force it open and find the quickest way out of the building. Brendon kept saying that if he could just get around the corner, just get to the security room, he could stop Tyler and stop this from happening. 

 

The voice got to ten seconds and there was no progress to be made but Brendon kept going. Josh didn’t want to stay inside the building about to explode, no matter if Brendon said it was just to trap, that he’d for sure make it. Josh didn’t trust a word of it but his options were growing smaller. He looked around himself and saw a window. The house was perched on a hill and Josh knew that if he jumped from the window, it was a long way down. 

 

The voice said five and Josh suddenly didn’t care about the drop. He threw himself at the window, the glass shattering around him. He could feel it cutting his skin and his clothes as he fell, hitting the grass and rolling down the hill and through the brush. 

 

It took Josh a long time to wake up and when he did he could smell the remnants of a fire. Things were too loud and the world hurt his head. Josh’s first instinct was to move, so he did.

 

He started walking, forgetting about his car that he’d driven to Brendon’s house originally, forgetting about a lot of things. The tumble down from Brendon’s window had taken a toll on his head. He heard sirens in the distance and saw lights but he didn’t know what they were for anymore. He had blood dripping down the side of his head, clouding his right eye. He could hardly see. The world was spinning. 

 

“Sir, are you okay?” Somebody asked him. It was a man in front of Josh, dressed in a uniform. He wore a badge on the left side of his chest that Josh couldn’t place. His uniform had a logo that he thought he should have recognized but he squinted and the world spun more and Josh turned to throw up. 

 

“I’m okay,” he said, not acknowledging that he was doubled over with stomach acid dripping from his lips. “I’m okay,” he said, righting himself and watching as the world shifted in front of him. The trees didn’t look right anymore and the man was speaking to him but Josh couldn’t understand a word of it. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at the man.

 

“I’m-” he started, collapsing to the pavement and going unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well folks, that's it. i'm sorry that it took me for fucking ever to finish this but i didn't give up sooo. i have one other multi chap that i'm working on and i've got some real big things coming so stay tuned

**Author's Note:**

> validate me


End file.
